It would seem
that a great many Episcopalians are woefully ignorant about their church, not
their individual churches, but about The Episcopal Church or TEC as it goes by.
I make this statement based on years of sitting in pews in various Episcopal
parishes and personal experiences. Let me give you some examples.

First, there
is the lady who loudly and indignantly proclaims that she is an Episcopalian, not
an Anglican. That had me in stitches.

Next is my
friend whom I recently learned is an Episcopalian. In an effort to start a
conversation on that topic, I told him that I am an Anglican. I may as well
have told him I was from another planet. It meant zip, zero, zilch, nothing, to
him at all.

Lastly, my
parents' parish. As Episcopal parishes go, it is fairly prosperous, as well as
having a nice mix, age wise. Of all the times I have attended, the only thing
that raised my eyebrows was when the bishop visited. He spoke on "God's
Agenda." That just about launched me out of my pew in the direction of the
door. I managed to stay put, as my parents would never have understood. Like so
many in "healthy" churches, they think all is well and good because
it is so with their church.

The roots of
the Episcopal Church lay with the Church of England, which was the predominant
faith at the time of the Revolutionary War. The Church became The Protestant
Episcopal Church of the United States. Episcopal means: "of bishops".
This is important in demonstrating that there was a continuance of the
Apostolic Succession i.e. "the method whereby the ministry of the
Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous
succession."

English
Bishops are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch, an unpopular
concept at the time. Samuel Seabury was the first elected bishop in the new
republic. Since swearing allegiance to the British crown was repugnant, he
sought consecration in Scotland. Scottish Bishops consecrated him securing the
line of succession from the Apostles.

The American
church never parted ways with the Church of England.

Although it is
now known as the Worldwide Anglican Communion -- from whence as the British
Empire the sun never sets -- it is still the Church of England. That being the
case, I must inform the indignant lady that she is, indeed, an Anglican.

This brings me
to my friend who, in his defense, is a recent convert. He started attending the
local Episcopal Church when he and his wife moved here because his daughter
attended an Episcopal Church. The problem here, as I see it, is that he
obviously has not been educated on what the church is about. It is not really
his fault, but it points out a glaring flaw of a lot of parishes. There isn't a
whole lot of orientation for "newbees". The kids get a dose of
something (I am hardly qualified to say what as we studied the Acts of the
Apostles and memorized The Apostles' Creed for confirmation. No history of TEC
or illustration of its place in the Anglican Communion -- I don't even recall
the term even being used.) New hires at companies/corporations are given an
orientation wherein they are presented, to some degree or another, with the
history and organization of the entity for which they will be working. Seems a
similar program would be presented to all new parish members even if they are
already Episcopalians. As I said earlier, I have attended several Episcopal
Churches. I have never seen anything remotely approaching something like that.
There are churches, I am sure who may do something like that. I just haven't
seen it.

Most Episcopal
Churches, I am convinced, operate in vacuums with no idea what goes on outside
the walls of their individual edifices. They function as separate entities
having little or no relation with other Episcopal parishes or with what goes on
at 815 the Church's national headquarters in New York City, nor for what passes
as "God's mission" by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori.

This leads to
the warm, smug conclusion that since all is right with our church, there is
nothing to be concerned about. I know that is how my parents view their church.
Can't even have a discussion about it.

I do not make
my case as a universal state in the Episcopal Church, however it does seem to
be prevalent. If Episcopalians were more knowledgeable about their church
outside of their building walls, perhaps more of them would be looking for
better leadership or, like me, becoming Anglican.

Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758) was a
preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans. Edwards "is
widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical
theologian," and one of America's greatest intellectuals.

“By the false prophet [in Revelation 16:13], is sometimes meant the Pope
and his clergy; but here an eye seems to be had to Mahomet, whom his followers
call the great prophet of God.[74]”

AND NOW, for illustrative quotes on Islam from the son and
grandson of Kenyan born Muslims, a world class and credentialed historian, and
a man notable for his robust and unimpeachable honesty and integrity, Imam
Barack Hussein Obama, see:

#8 “These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold
in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the
dignity of all human beings.”

#9 “America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in
competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and
progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”#10“I made clear that America is not – and never will be – at war with
Islam.”

#11 “Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent
extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.”

#12 “So I have known Islam on three continents before
coming to the region where it was first revealed”

#13 “In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities
have been at the forefront of innovation and education.”

#16 “The Holy Koran tells us, ‘O mankind! We have created
you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you
may know one another.’”

#17 “I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating
Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month.”

#18 “We’ve seen those results in generations of Muslim
immigrants – farmers and factory workers, helping to lay the railroads and
build our cities, the Muslim innovators who helped build some of our highest
skyscrapers and who helped unlock the secrets of our universe.”#19 “That experience guides my conviction that partnership
between America and Islammust be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I
consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to
fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.”

#20“I
also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story.”

OR, beside Imam Obama’s
insights above, a few Quranic verses that have insired many Islamo-fascists.

Qur'an 3:32—Say:
Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not
love the unbelievers.

Qur'an 48:29—Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against
disbelievers, and merciful among themselves. You see them bowing and falling
down prostrate (in prayer), seeking Bounty from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure.
The mark of them (i.e. of their Faith) is on their faces (foreheads) from the
traces of (their) prostration (during prayers). This is their description in
the Taurat (Torah). But their description in the Injeel (Gospel) is like a
(sown) seed which sends forth its shoot, then makes it strong, it then becomes
thick, and it stands straight on its stem, delighting the sowers that He may
enrage the disbelievers with them. Allah has promised those among them who
believe (i.e. all those who follow Islamic Monotheism, the religion of Prophet
Muhammad SAW till the Day of Resurrection) and do righteous good deeds,
forgiveness and a mighty reward (i.e. Paradise).

Qur'an 4:24—Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those
(captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess. Thus hath Allah ordained
(Prohibitions) against you: Except for these, all others are lawful, provided
ye seek (them in marriage) with gifts from your property—desiring chastity, not
lust, seeing that ye derive benefit from them, give them their dowers (at
least) as prescribed; but if, after a dower is prescribed, agree mutually (to
vary it), there is no blame on you, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise.

Qur'an 5:33—The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His
apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should
be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on
opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for
them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.

Qur'an 9:5—Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters
wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare
for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the
poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Qur'an 9:29—Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day
[notice it says "fight those who do not believe," not "fight
people who are attacking you"], nor hold that forbidden which hath been
forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth,
from among the People of the Book [the people of the book are Jews and
Christians], until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel
themselves subdued.

Qur'an 9:73—O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the
hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the
destination.

Qur'an 9:111—Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons and
their property for this, that they shall have the garden; they fight in Allah's
way, so they slay and are slain; a promise which is binding on Him in the
Taurat and the Injeel and the Quran; and who is more faithful to his covenant
than Allah? Rejoice therefore in the pledge which you have made; and that is
the mighty achievement.

Qur'an 47:35—Be not weary and fainthearted, crying for peace, when ye
should be uppermost: for Allah is with you, and will never put you in loss for
your (good) deeds.

Qur'an 2:106—Whatever
communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than
it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?

From the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the Collect for
Good Friday:

O
MERCIFUL God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing
that thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he
should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and
Hereticks, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of
thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be
saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one
shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy
Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

New at Knox
Theological Seminary.

Doctor of
Ministry–Theology and Worship of the English Reformation Track

*NEW
FALL 2014*

The
Theology and Worship of the English Reformation Track is designed to equip
those in ministry to understand the doctrinal and liturgical reforms of the
16th and 17th centuries.

The
received traditions of Catholic faith and practice were rethought in 16th
century Britain along the “evangelical” lines of the Reformation, resulting in
a consistent though broad Protestantism lived and expressed through the Book of
Common Prayer. The early English evangelicals did find a middle-way of sorts,
but not as is often imagined a via media between the Reformation and Rome.
Rather, the English Reformation listened to and learned from both the Lutheran
and Reformed traditions and attempted to express and embody a Protestantism
that could include both (or at least not exclude either).

This track
encourages an understanding of the mutuality of theology and worship and
considers the complexity of contextualization, as well as the process of
learning from the past for the sake of the present.

Learning
Outcomes

A graduate of
the Theology and Worship of the English Reformation Track will be capable of:

• Understanding
the complex social, political, and theological conditions that lead to and
shaped the English Reformation

• Understanding
the social, political, and theological consequences of the English Reformation

• Seeing
the interconnectedness of doctrinal and liturgical reform

• Learning
from and thinking with the worship and theology of the English Reformation for
contemporary ministry

• Turning
Points: Laudianism, Tractarianism, and the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

• Comparing
the Prayer Books: From 1549-1979

• The
Americanization of the English Reformation: The Great Awakening, the
Revolution, and the Rest

4 elective
courses

Taught by Leading Scholars in the field of Anglican Studies
and the English Reformation:

• Rev. Dr. Ashley Null
(the world’s leading Cranmer scholar)

• Dr.
Gerald Bray (editor of Documents
of the English Reformation)

• Dr.
Jonathan Linebaugh

• Rev.
Dr. Justin Holcomb

Final Project

The final
project will be an historical and theological study that looks back to the
English Reformation as it looks forward to the contexts and conditions of
contemporary ministry. The student will engage with an aspect of the
liturgical, social, political, and theological transformations that occurred
during and/or after the English Reformation. This research will facilitate an
understanding of the complexities of contextualization, the deep mutuality of
doctrinal and liturgical reform, and the process of listening to and learning
from the past for the sake of the present. The project concludes with a
consideration of the ways in which the materials studied can serve contemporary
ministry.

The first
course in this track is being offered in January 2015. To view all courses
being offered, please see the DMin
course schedule.

It may seem
strange to think that arguments about prayer played a central role in the
Protestant Reformation. We know that people did not have the Bible in their own
language and that the institutional church suffered from defects that had to be
put right, and we think that was what the Reformation was mainly about. Prayer,
on the other hand, strikes us as having been much the same after the great
upheaval of the sixteenth century as it had been before. It is hard to believe
that people did not cry out to God before the Reformation, and since human
needs do not change, it is equally hard to believe that their prayers did
either. But prayer is at the heart of our devotional life as Christians, and
because that devotional life was deeply affected by the movement of reform,
questions surrounding the nature and practice of prayer were bound to be raised
sooner or later.

Will you
pray for me?

To understand
what happened and why, we must step back into the medieval world in which
Martin Luther grew up. The French historian Georges Duby (1919-96) classified
medieval society into three distinct orders – those who prayed, those who
fought and those who worked. These orders, better known to us as the three
estates of the realm, were clearly demarcated from each other by a series of
laws, customs and taboos that extended even to what each of them was allowed to
wear. The praying order was the first, or spiritual estate, consisting of
priests, monks, friars and other people who were officially recognized as
“religious.” It was their duty to connect society to God, a task which was
thought to be aided by imposing a semi-heavenly lifestyle on them. Like the
angels, they were required to be celibate and they spoke, wrote and prayed in a
language that was not in common use. They lived by their own laws, in their own
quarters, and were as cut off from the world as they could be.

This way of
life seems strange to us now, but it had a logic of its own. …

Lutheran

Presbyterian

About Me

Retired. Reformed and Presbyterian by background, but dedicated to the Anglican Prayerbook with degrees from Presbyterian and Episcopal seminaries. Informed by both traditions. Not giving up the 1662 BCP for the Presbyterians and not giving up the Westminster Standards for the Anglicans.